2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

Alright. So, overall, what did you guys think? I think it was the best WrestleMania, pound-for-pound, in a long time. I still don't love the Taker thing but I'm warming up to it. All good things, right?

USOs vs. Los Matadores vs. The Real Americans vs. Rybaxel (shitty name)-> Solid opener that really got the crowd pumped up. I enjoyed this as a dark match, particularly once it was down to the Real Americans and USOs. The USOs are a great team. They work very well together. Some solid stuff there. 7/10
Opening promo-> I hated the Rock's promo a couple of years ago to open WM27 as I felt it didn't add a damn thing to the show and the time could have been better spent with some up-and-coming guys but I really enjoyed this year's start to the show. Historic WrestleMania, nice to see such a great piece of history in bringing three of THE icons back and having them cut a great promo playing off each other. I was really hoping Bad News Barrett would interrupt them and get stunned, Rock Bottom'd and Leg Dropped but all in all I can't complain. 8/10.
HHH vs. Daniel Bryan-> I LOVED this match. It was perfect. Just absolutely perfect. A great build, plenty of backstory to make this moment important and, most of all, the ending worked perfectly. I also loved Stephanie's role here. She knows how to be a real heel. 9/10.
The Shield vs. the NAO & Kane-> I also LOVED this match. From a booking standpoint, this is EXACTLY what should have happened given that you've got three dominate up-and-comers who are one of the best factions of the past decade up against a bunch of old guys past their prime. I'm so glad the Shield got the dominant win they so richly deserved. Perfect booking. 8/10.
Andre the Giant Battle Royal-> I originally wanted to pick Cesaro to win this but when I looked at the names revealed, I didn't see him there. Glad they gave him the push. I think he's going to have a HUGE year and I wouldn't be surprised if he's at or near the top of the card at Mania next year. That finish was sick too. Easily my second-favorite moment of the show. 9/10.
John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt-> Honestly, this was a bit of a letdown for me. I'll have to watch this match again but it only worked for me in brief periods. I thought Cena tried too hard to sell the whole conflicted hero angle. Wyatt was fantastic though. Absolutely fantastic and a star in the making. This match kind of let me down but it's promising to see where it's going to go from here. 6/10.
Lesnar vs. Taker-> I need to rewatch this match to see if the build really works for the ultimate finish (I.E. I liked the WM27 HHH v. Taker match a lot after my initial viewing knowing the outcome) but right now, I hated this match. I think it was poorly constructed and Taker (either intentionally or unintentionally) looked awful here. Lesnar wasn't much better. I watched their Fully Loaded match from a few years ago recently and they had chemistry there. This had none. Poor match that I honestly think was hurt by poor booking leading into it. Would have liked to see Lesnar viciously beat Taker if this were the way it was going to go. But it didn't. And it was a giant letdown. Definitely not worthy of being something people will talk about for years. 21 & 1 Awful Ending. 5/10 (I reserve the right to change this upon more viewings).
Divas Match-> Good choice by the WWE to put this match here. The crowd was completely and utterly dead and it's unfortunate because this was a strong match, especially for a Diva match. Love that they gave AJ the rub here. Her title streak is really bland right now but this was a big win to re-establish her as the dominant Diva in the company. Hopefully the WWE brings Paige up soon. I can't wait for those two to feud. That has the potential to be the best Diva feud since Lita-Trish. No exaggeration. 7/10.
Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton vs. Batista-> I was worried when I saw that this match was going to start at 10:24 and most of these shows are over at 10:45. I was even more worried when the crowd was nonexistent for the first half of the match. Thank goodness HHH and Stephanie came back out. That really kick-started the finish. Especially loved the Scott Armstrong touch. Such a strong callback. From that point on, this match was magic. Showed exactly WHY the IWC has been behind Bryan so much and the finish was phenomenal. I knew Bryan would win but the way they booked the match out, there were times when I thought BOTH Orton and Batista were able to get the three count. Perfect ending to a (mostly) strong show. 9/10.
Overall-> Great, great show only slightly marred in the immediate aftermath because of the Lesnar-Taker ending. I'm sure it will grow to make sense and, if Taker retires, then we'll look at it in a completely different way. But, still, this felt like a WrestleMania and that's all I was asking for. 8/10.

 

Scanning the AP wire tonight, and I saw there was actually a Wrestlemania gamer on there. It recapped results more than taking a feature angle. Made me feel like it was 1985 again.

 

I just rewatched the Undertaker/Lesnar match, and it really needs a second viewing now that we know the outcome. Why? You see it in an entirely different light. To me, this is going to be the biggest swerve The E has pulled off in years.

We were spoiled with seven strong WrestleMania matches from the Undertaker. Go back to WM22, and it's a ho-hum casket match with a Mark Henry who had little respect. It was filler. The next year, WM23 against Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship ... that's where the Streak hype really kicks into high gear. Taker lead Batista to a strong match, then followed up with another championship effort against Edge at WM24. Then, we get the back-to-back spot fests with Shawn Michaels at WM25 and WM26. Then come the brawls with Triple H, then the personal fued with a disrespectful CM Punk.

We were so spoiled.

This year, we get a storyline that started strong and petered out. The pen through the hand should have been the go-home moment last week on Raw. The build happened in reverse, and maybe it was for the best. It lulled us into a sense of false security that we'd see another classic Undertaker WreslteMania match. But we didn't pay attention to what was being said: late into the build and into the match, the commentary leaned toward Undertaker's age and mortality. Sure, every year the commentators had to play up "is this the year the Streak ends?" and we'd play along. Some of us even made our XX-1 signs because the Deadman was up against our favorite. I would have no problem had Taker put over Punk last year because I was a Punk mark.

Rewatch the match. Trust me. The writing was all over the wall. But we were so spoiled by the spot fests that we didn't see a fairly solid match unfolding. Sure, Taker looked winded and tired at times, but not as bad as we first thought. We assumed we were getting a boring match that couldn't even live up to its mediocre hype. What we got was a well-executed story: In a straight up fight with no chair shots, no interference, no shennanigans whatsoever, Taker had finally fought that one fight too many.

Taker lost as clean as I've seen a main eventer lose in quite some time.

If The E wanted to have a shock-the-world moment for WM30, they set it up perfectly. No one saw it coming. And Brock Lesnar was the only guy who you could point to and say, yes, I really believe this man could beat the shit out of the Undertaker. What else was there to do? Book another great-but-predictible match and hope Roman Reigns is ready to go for WM31, assuming Taker's body holds up?

No. This is likely it for the Deadman, and it's a hell of a way to go out because people will talk about this for YEARS.

Edit to add: I also believe this is Taker's last go because he is old school. He went out on his back, like so many before him.

- Shawn Michaels
- Ric Flair (because The E doesn't acknowledge his TNAlimony run)
- Mick Foley (who went out on his back many times before coming back to do it again)
- The Rock (assuming last year was it for him)
- Stone Cold
- Brock Lesnar at WMXX
- Goldberg kinda went out on his back via Stone Cold Stunner
And the list goes on.

By the way, I missed the promo from WM31. Was there an announcement?

 

Thoughts on Wrestlemania as I watch it:

- The opening promo looked like it might turn into a shitshow, but I thought Austin and Rock saved it by consciously acknowledging Hogan’s gaffe. Rock went on a bit too long, but then again, he always does. Still a really enjoyable segment.

- Stephanie McMahon went to her stylist and said, “Give me something from the angry equestrian collection! Oh we’re out? How about something like ‘pissed off maid’ or ‘teacher with attitude’ then? Just make sure I have a flower hanging from my neck though. I want people to think I’m Anna Kendrick’s older, still attractive but not quite as attractive as her sister.”

- Triple H vs. Daniel Bryan was about as good as possible, considering how foregone the conclusion of the match was going to be. And Stephanie was awesome throughout the match. I also liked the post-match stuff – If you’re going to make Bryan the underdog, might as well go all the way with it, with the cheap shots after the match.

- Wow, The Shield in a squash match essentially! I like the outcome, I’m just surprised by it. They should be going over clean over the thrown-together team of The New Age Outlaws and Kane, I just figured there would be some more chicanery in the outcome.

- Show with the Andre-style singlet, which is good times. JBL goes, “There goes Yoshi. Yoshi got mentioned on Wrestlemania, shocking.” I thought the same thing, since I had no idea he was still with the company. Khali dumps Clay, then immediately gets dumped by three guys… Everything in the ring is a cluster, and nobody really looks all that impressive.

Then, Big Show dumps Mark Henry, which would have been cooler if we hadn’t seen Mark Henry eliminated in every Royal Rumble ever. Also, all of these guys somehow got eliminated before Santino, who also gets to eliminate past Wrestlemania main eventer The Miz. Crowd is completely dead for this.

Big E’s toss of Justin Gabriel looked dangerous – When he was in the air I thought, “Shit, he’s gonna get crippled.” Luckily, he landed okay. Then, Fandango eliminates Big E; amazing to think he was a legit title contender as of a few months ago. Also, Smiling Sheamus is the worst Sheamus.

Del Rio had some pretty sick kicks in the match, and by far looked the best with all of his eliminations. I am surprised they had him eliminate Cody though, instead of teasing some dissension in the Rhodes Brothers. Kofi was doing his usual spot monkey stuff, although the thrill is a little bit gone, since you now know it’s always coming.

When Cesaro was swinging Kingston, I did briefly wonder if he could swing him Cutting Edge style over the top rope. Final four – Big Show, Sheamus, Del Rio, Cesaro. Bleh, except for Cesaro. Then when it was down to Big Show and Cesaro, that was interesting, and WOW! That was a heck of a slam at the end! Anything involving strength that Cesaro does, I think it looks that much more impressive given his slight frame, and the hand shake at the end from Show was a nice touch too, since they were both faces. Great final two minutes, but the rest of the match was meh.

- Weird, interesting match between Cena and Bray Wyatt. Not exactly super high excitement, but still interesting. However, I figured Cena was going over once Rowan and Harper got knocked out and stayed out. It would have been far, far more interesting if Cena gave into the evil, but we knew that wasn’t going to happen.

- Lita, still lookin’ pretty, pretty, pretty good. The Ultimate Warrior just looks like a CPA or offensive line coach at this point.

- Didn’t like the backstage segment / tease with Daniel Bryan and the doctor examining his arm. Kind of wish they went with the “Bret Hart at the Royal Rumble” thing and speculated about whether he’d be able to return at all tonight.

- Confession… I’m kind of losing my interest in the yearly Undertaker match, especially since they all follow the same script now. Taker has his 10 minute intro, staredown for another few minutes, then a shit-ton of fake finishes to make sure it’s a 30+ minute match…

AND WHAT THE SHIT? My expression matched that of everyone else in the crowd. Wowwwww. I had always read that Taker wanted to go out putting someone else over, but I didn’t think it would be Lesnar, who’s essentially a part-time guy, albeit a legitimate bad ass and monster. The shots of Taker getting up with the “21-1” in the background though, that was good stuff.

- Diva match, piss break. I did watch it, but zzzzzz. It looked like AJ was controlling Naomi’s hand and making it tap out, but they didn’t mention this on commentary.

- And finally, the main event! Kind of ho-hum until the intrusion of Triple H, Stephanie and Scott Armstrong. I couldn’t tell if Stephanie got legit hurt on the suicide dive; ballsy of her to risk it anyway in her heels and that weird leather equestrian outfit.

The Batista Bomb into the RKO was a pretty sick-looking spot. On the replay, it looked like Orton landed square on his back on one of the monitors, which had to hurt like a bitch. And I have no complaints with the end of the match, and Daniel Bryan’s crowning moment. After they ended Taker’s streak though, it would have been a riot if they ended it any other way…

 

After thinking about it, I agree with this, and what Brad wrote. Taker looked gassed out there after a while, and I kind of think that if he could go back in time, he probably would have ended the streak against Punk last year instead. It would have been nicer if they had a better guy than Lesnar to break it, but if they threw Bryan or Cena or even Bray Wyatt in that match, I think it wouldn't have been as stunning of an ending. The Cheap Heat podcast said you needed to bet $50 on Taker to make $1 if he won; that's how heavy the odds were.

 

And here we go: Multiple reports that Taker went to the hospital right after the match for fear he had a concussion and hurt his neck. The finish was planned to have Lesnar win, but the speculation is this is why the match was going so shitty.

Lesnar, Heyman and Vince went to the hospital with him.

 

I'm looking forward to the eventual backstory to come out on what all went into that match. It'd make for good WWE Network programming.

 

Too bad the Angry Miz Girl wasn't in attendance. Her face would of been priceless.

 

The one good thing about a Taker retirement is surely he breaks character and we get a hell of a behind-the-scenes book? ... nah, we'll get the sanitized WWE Press version. Ever read Hogan's two bios? The non-WWE version is a hell of lot more interesting.

 

WWE Network numbers are out. A shade less than 670,000 signed up, and stock has dived 20 percent from its 52-week high from a few weeks ago. I'm thinking it has another surge or two in the future as the Network is only available in the US now. Surely they can come up with another half a million subscribers once they open up to Canada, Europe, and Australia. Wish I had jumped on their stock earlier this year when it was still sub-$10. Still a little money to be made if you get in soon.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2014/04/07/heel-turn-wwe-stock-takes-a-dive-after-wrestlemania-xxx/

 

I didn't believe it until now, when I read Taker picked Lesnar to win last night and break the Streak.

But last night, I would have said there was no way that was the ending. Think about it:

-- No music, no pyro, no nothing for what seemed like an eternity.
-- Taker telling Lesnar something before he hit the third F-5 for the win.
-- Heyman's reaction. And Lesnar's too.
-- The announcers' stunned silence.
-- The fact that it took them a while to get "21-1" up on the screens.